April 27, 2009 - More than 31 million of the country’s total population are second-hand smokers, head of research center of Iran Anti-Tobacco Association (IATA) said here on Sunday.

Referring to the recent statistics from the Iranian Health Ministry and the World Health organization (WHO), Ali Abdollahinia said, “Over 45% of Iranians are exposed to passive smoking (secondhand smoke, environmental tobacco smoke, ETS, sidestream smoke, involuntary smoking).” Based on the figures, more than 10 million of Iranians are smokers, who light up over 58 billion cigarettes yearly. He referred to the increase in the average age of Iranian smokers, and said that over 24% of men and 2% of women over the age of 15 are smokers in the country. According to Abdollahinia, 3.2% of boy students and 1% of girl students aged between 13 and 15 are smokers. “On average, Iranians light up 14 cigarettes a day,” the researcher added.Reference: Over 45% of Iranians exposed to passive smoking, mehrnews.com, 4/26/2009.